It is well known that accumulation of excess cholesterol and triglycerides are two known predictors for coronary risk and a study conducted by WHO put more emphasis on excess triglyceride which appears to be a stronger predictor for coronary mortality.
It is known that low density lipo-protein (LDL) is a derivative of ingested oil which carry cholesterol to the cells (normal body function) irrespective of body requirements. On the other hand high density Lipo-protein (HDL) another derivative of ingested oil transports back excess cholesterol to liver for disposal.
Therefore in order to maintain cholesterol levels within the normal range and also reduce triglyceride levels in cerum lipid, it is desirable to have reduced level of LDL and increased level of HDL. The ratio that is total cholesterol divided by HDL, is therefore an important criteria, and lower the ratio better it is.
It is anticipated that because of life style changes, a very large section of the population is likely to have cardiovascular problems, and dietary edible oils and their quality and characteristics play an important role in maintaining the health and fitness of humans especially those used to regular consumption of food cooked with such presently available dietary edible oils.
Clinical trials conducted by national institute of nutrition, Hyderabad, India have further proved beyond doubt that conventional ingredients of dietary oils such as Mono saturated fatty acids (MUFA) oleic (n-9), Poly unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-linoleic (n-6) and Alpha linolenic acid (ALNA) (n-3) i.e. normal oils and fats used for cooking including safflower oil, soybean oil, groundnut oil, canola oil, etc. cannot reduce triglyceride levels in cerum lipid.
Therefore it has been the requirement in the art to provide dietary cooking oils having beneficial effects namely reduction of LDL and/or increase in HDL or the ratio of cholesterol and direct HDL reduction of triglyceride level and reduction of tendency of platelets to clump and adhere to the blood vessel walls due to lower cholesterol levels and related contraction of the blood vessel themselves would go a long way for overall health care as oils are used daily and by all members of the family.
It is known that Eicosa Pentaenoic Acid (EPA) and Docosa Hexaenoic Acid (DHA) have therapeutic values as actives capable of reducing the cholesterol level in the body and favour maintaining good health conditions especially by safeguarding against coronary risks associated with high triglyceride/cholesterol levels in the body.
However, inspite of the above known therapeutic values of EPA/DHA so far their use has been mostly restricted to its use in encapsulated/protected form as capsules because of possible instability in contact with air/moisture due to its highly unsaturated constitution/characteristic. It is known that heat is extremely damaging to any polyunsaturated oil. It serves to break their precious double bonds changing the oil from a healthy and safe known constitution into an unhealthy unknown constitution. These effects magnify as cooking temperature increases.
The poly unsaturated fatty acids DHA/EPA therefore also have problems due to their high degree of unsaturation which call for treatments to increase stability against oxidation and/or through elimination of important part of the constitution of the oil resulting in loss in its nutritional value.
Added to the above problems of heat stability of poly unsaturated fatty acids and possible deterioration and exposure to air and moisture there is also the additional problems of providing the beneficial actives EPA/DHA in pure form for its possible use and application in environments requiring heat stability. Alpha linolenic acid (ALNA) through bio-synthesis pathway can theoretically produce EPA/DHA but their conversion is insignificant because of deficiency in respective enzymes. Clinical trial with soyabean oil (8% ALNA) or canola (12% ALNA) has reported that ALNA is not effective to reduce triglyceride levels possibly due to insignificant availability of the beneficial actives EPA/DHA from such source.
At present there are two major sources of EPA/DHA, namely fish oil and algae Enrichment of EPA/DHA in fish oil is generally done by fractional distillation and related procedures but during this process it is likely to produce unidentified side products.
For such problems of pure source of EPA/DHA in desired concentration the effective valuable therapeutic use of EPA/DHA ion a form suitable for regular consumption/application/administration has not been possible over the years. It is found that maximum purity of about 70% of EPA/DHA is at most made available to the art as of now and thus the impurity content in sources of EPA/DHA in turn has continued to affect its possible valuable wide scale therapeutic use/application.
The problem of purity of EPA/DHA from its available sources and in particular the impurity content in such presently available sources of EPA/DHA make it extremely difficult to favour its possible applications for its therapeutic benefits especially in controlling triglyceride and cholesterol levels in the body by its regular intake/consumption. It would be clearly evident from the above state of art that the impurity levels in the available sources of EPA/DHA not only make its use/application limited but also has been found to be not acceptable in the art in as far as its possible uses in environments/mediums involving high temperatures such as dietary edible oils.
Thus, the above reveal that while on one hand it is desired to make advantageous use of the therapeutic values of EPA and DHA in controlling triglycerides/cholesterol levels in the body by way of its provision in a medium/formulation suitable for regular consumption the same has been difficult to achieve due to the inherent unsaturated form and consequently, therefore, possible unstable characteristics and also the limitations in providing the same in pure form suitable for such regular and wide scale applications and uses especially for maintenance of health and safe living.